


Paperchains in the Snow

by AndInThoseMoments



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Cabin Fic, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Established Relationship, M/M, Trapped
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-15
Updated: 2013-12-15
Packaged: 2018-01-03 07:22:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1067668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndInThoseMoments/pseuds/AndInThoseMoments
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint's had worse Christmases than this one, even if he is stuck in the middle of Russia with his handler.  In fact, with some paperchains and an MRE full of chocolate cake, it could even turn into one of his best.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Paperchains in the Snow

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Clint on how they celebrated Christmas in the circus.

"So sir..." Clint began, chewing his gum and leaning back on the plush seat of the safe house. "Is this how you planned to spend your Christmas? Because you know, this kind of sucks."

Coulson's lips quirked for an instant in something that could easily be considered a smile by those who knew him well. He had to admit that Clint was right - this mission had gone south quickly. Not only were they in the middle of Siberia in December, the woman that they had meant to be bringing down had escaped them, and they'd got caught by another gang. They'd escaped from them a couple of days later, bruised and battered but in one piece, only to make it to the safe house just as it began to snow. It had been snowing for the last fifteen hours, and they were trapped. Both because their rescue helicopter couldn't get to them, and because a snow drift had completely blocked the door.

Coulson had certainly run missions that had gone better. But he'd also run missions that had gone worse. The two agents that had started the mission were both still alive, and able to move unaided, so he wasn't really upset. Mildly annoyed, yes, but not upset.  
"It wasn't." He answered, glancing over at Clint, and rolling his eyes when he noticed that Clint was attempting to construct some kind of Christmas decoration from a newspaper, twisting and plaiting sheets together. "Can't fault the company though."

"I thought you normally went home at Christmas." Clint answered. "Your parents going to worry? They think you're in accounting right...."  
Coulson shook his head.  
"They know that sometimes my work takes me away, and I told them I had an urgent conference in Europe and that I might not make it back in time. Mum wasn't pleased, but they won't be worried." He frowned a little as he saw Clint carefully balling small pieces of paper and threading them onto the twisted strands. "Is that mistletoe?"  
"It might be..." Clint muttered, smiling softly and holding up the ornament above his head. Coulson just sighed softly, and Clint put it down with a pout.

"Clint..." He paused, considering his question. "I'm guessing this isn't how you planned on spending yours either?"

Clint shrugged, spitting his gum across the room and into the bin with the same impeccable aim that he showed in the field.  
"No, because I'm not sat in my apartment waiting for everyone to get back from where they are."  
Coulson hesitated for a moment. It had never really occurred to him that as Clint didn't have a family, he would be spending Christmas alone. Now he realised it, he wondered how he could ever have been so blind before.  
"We can make this a good Christmas." He said, before he even realised that he was speaking. "I mean, we might as well. Evac won't be until the 26th at the earliest."

"MRE dinner and no decorations." Clint shrugged. "That sounds like great fun sir."  
"I know for a fact there's one of the meal packs in here with that chocolate sponge you love..." Coulson promised. "Plus, we've got a stapler and a lot of paperwork. We can make paper chains." Clint's eyes lit up like a child's, and Coulson realised that for all his denial, Christmas was worth something to Clint.

"It means a lot to you?" He asked quietly as he sorted through the paperwork to find that which could be sacrificed for the greater good of paper chains. Clint just shrugged as though he didn't care.  
"I normally don't celebrate." He said as he tore the pieces of paper he was handed into thin strips.  
"That wasn't what I asked." Coulson chided gently.

"I've had some good Christmases and some terrible ones." He answered, beginning to thread the paper chains together with skilled fingers.  
"You've done that before." Coulson prompted, trying to gently guide him to talking. Clint nodded up at him.  
"We did them at the orphanage, they were too cheap to buy proper decorations and they wanted us to do something for ourselves." Clint explained.  
"I'll go make dinner, and you can wrestle those into something appropriate. Then after dinner, you can tell me a bit more about your other Christmases." Coulson told him, before walking into the kitchen.

True to his word, he found an MRE pack that contained chocolate sponge, and made that for Clint, along with a beef stew which he knew was Clint's favourite. He grabbed some apple crumble for himself and sausage casserole, and boiled all four bags of food. He returned to Clint, and found the younger man surrounded by a pile of paper chains. He reached up for the bags of his food, snatching them from Coulson and eating hungrily. The room was cold, and Clint shivered a little, and disappeared up to the bedroom, returning a few minutes later with two blankets.

He threw one around Phil's shoulder, and finished the stew, before gorging himself on the chocolate sponge.  
"Look... in the circus... well, it was a time for family. And I didn't have much of a family, but I had Barney, at least for a bit. He'd steal food off other performers, because Christmas... Christmas was the one time we had a bit of money. People'd make each other gifts, and we got bonuses, and I... I got myself some shoes one year, and when I'd been walking in ones that were falling apart for months, that made it a pretty good year..." He trailed off with a shrug.

"Even as a kid, I never believed in Santa. There was this one clown though, who'd dress up for the kids, and that was cool I guess. Plus food was better then... couple of years I even got people's left over Christmas dinners..." He shrugged again, and tried to ignore the fact he was now shivering worse. Eventually he got up off of the ground, and sat down beside Coulson, resting against his shoulder. Coulson wrapped his arm around the archer’s waist, and Clint managed a smile.

"I got my first bow for Christmas one year, and I kept shooting her every day until she broke... I mean, she was one that they'd already had, that I needed for my performance, and to be honest she was kind of crappy, but I got a real present that was all for me, you know? That was pretty awesome. I loved Christmas back then."

"Then...well, after they kicked me out and left me in a hospital.. that was late December. I left the hospital on Christmas Eve because there'd be less people around then to notice me running off without paying for my bills... and after that, I didn't really do Christmas. I missed what it had been on the circus, but I was entirely on my own and I didn't have time for it."  
"You have time for it now." Coulson reminded him, leaning in and brushing his lips against Clint's forehead. Clint relaxed a little and nodded, glancing over at the pile of paper chains.  
"Lets put those up..." He suggested, and Coulson nodded, trying to work out how to prop them into place. He grabbed a chair from the dining room and started to position the chains, Clint assisting and providing commentary from the ground.

When he was finally satisfied with them, he stepped down from the chair, walking over to Clint and examining the room with an evaluatory eye. It met his approval, and he nodded a little.  
“What do you think?”  
“I like it. This sure beats being sat at home…” Clint answered. He leaned in closer to him, then smirked, holding up the mistletoe from earlier. 

Coulson rolled his eyes but gave in, leaning in and kissing him tenderly, feeling Clint melt against him. The improvised decoration fluttered to the floor as Clint's hands stroked over his shoulders, and then Clint's hand found his.  
"You know sir, I've heard sharing body heat's a good way to combat the cold."  
"I've heard that too." Coulson agreed, his smirk mirroring Clint's own.  
"Want to make the best Christmas I've had even better?" Clint asked, leaning in for one more kiss, then letting Coulson lead the way to the bedroom.

The next day the sunlight trickled through the windows, landing on Clint's closed eyes. He grunted and turned over, muttering to himself. Coulson smiled fondly and drew him closer, kissing him softly once more as he checked his phone for messages.  
"Come on... we need to get up..." He murmured. "The Evac'll be here in two hours."  
"Okay..." Clint muttered, burrowing deeper into the quilt.  
"You know, next year, you should come with me for Christmas. Meet my family."  
"You sure about that sir?" Clint asked, giving Coulson a disbelieving look.  
"Absolutely."  
"Thanks Phil." Clint muttered, before wrapping his arms around his waist and pulling him closer. “You know, two hours is a lot of time.”


End file.
